Pivotal, Deneb and Acsion: Firms list as property sector soars

THE JSE will get listings from three property companies as shares in the industry outperform the main equities index this year. Pivotal Fund, Deneb Investments and Acsion will begin trading on the stock exchange over the next two weeks, according to company statements and officials. The listed property index gained 15 percent this year. The all share gauge is up 9.1 percent. “We’re likely to see a continuation of listings,” Evan Robins at Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa said yesterday. “Property is a very widely held asset, so if you’ve got a big portfolio, and you list it, the value on the JSE will be greater than the value they could sell it for.” The companies join the JSE as 19 of the 23 property index listings gain this year. Real estate, finance and business services expanded 2.4 percent in the third quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis from a revised 1.5 percent in the prior three months, Statistics SA said in its report released yesterday. Deneb would be unbundled from Seardel Investment as it aimed to raise R1.6 billion in a share placement, chief financial officer Gys Wege said. Acsion planned a private placement worth as much as R200 million, it said. Pivotal planned to raise R1bn in its private placement, it said. – Bloomberg